Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Prison oversight measure fails after extended Senate debate on task force scope
Summary
Senate Bill 124 — to create a legislative incarceration task force and keep prison planning options alive — failed on the floor 15–20 after lengthy debate over membership, scope and whether the executive branch would participate.
Senate Bill 124, which would have created a legislative task force to review incarceration capacity, sentencing and recidivism and to maintain options for future prison construction, failed in the South Dakota Senate on a roll-call vote, 15 yeas to 20 nays.
Sponsor Senator Jensen argued the task force would provide legislative oversight and keep planning options open after committee work and a DLR study. "We really need to keep alive a path forward so we can...keep the prison discussion alive," Senator Jensen said on the floor, adding that the task force's membership list had been refined in amendment 124C to include law enforcement, a prosecutor, defense counsel, court administrator, judge, probation and parole staff, a former incarcerated person, a warden or former warden, corrections staff, clergy, a mental-health professional, an addiction counselor, the secretary of corrections and a governor's representative.
Opponents questioned scope and timing. Senator Divert said the bill's language prioritized "alternative sites" rather than reviewing sentencing practices, which she argued should be part of the discussion; she asked to strike the word "alternative." Senator Grove warned that even building a new large prison would not solve capacity projections, noting state projections showed persistent over-capacity even under large construction proposals.
Several senators said executive-branch participation was uncertain and that without buy-in from the Department of Corrections and the governor the task force would be unlikely to effect change. "Unfortunately, without buy in with you from the executive branch, I don't think I can support this bill," Senator Wheeler said, noting past task forces have only been effective when executive leadership participated.
The bill was amended on the floor (124C) to specify membership including a public defender appointed by the chief defender; that amendment passed by voice vote. After extended debate the roll call produced 15 yeas and 20 nays, and the president declared the bill lost.
Because the bill failed on the floor, no task force was created and no implementation steps were assigned.
